Functional Communication Assessment and Intervention...

Functional Communication Assessment and Intervention Plan

Gretchen Morris-Archinal

SED 6050

7/22/2013

Gretchen Morris-ArchinalSED 6050

July 22, 2013

Functional Communication Assessment and Intervention Plan

Selection of a child

Andrew is an almost 10-year old who has just completed the third grade.

Andrew has an educational diagnosis of ASD. He has a twin sister who has completed

fourth grade and he lives at home with his mother, his twin and an older sister. Andrew

is quite verbal is the ASD categorical room, but is very quiet in the general education

setting. According to his gen ed teacher, Andrew said very little other than “Good

Morning” for most of the year. He did start to speak more in the 3rd grade class room

during the last two months of school.

Determine Function and Means of Communication

From highly verbal in one setting to a probable selective mutism in others

settings, Andrew is fascinating because his use of speech, language and other

communication skills varies so much by setting. Andrew was observed in three different

settings: the ASD categorical room, his third grade gen ed classroom, and in the library

presenting a Reader’s Theatre play in front of peers, parents and school staff.

The widest range of function and means of communication are present when

Andrew is in the ASD room. He is in the room for about 2/3rds of his day. He spends the

first ½ hour to 45 minutes in the gen ed room and then comes to the ASD room until

lunch. He has lunch with his peers and then returns to the ASD room for DEAR (Drop

Everything and Read) time until his gen ed specials. From 1:45 to 2:40 pm he is in the


July 22, 2013

ASD room and then attends Science/Social Studies with his peers. During his time in the

ASD room, Andrew requests objects and requests action by pointing, showing, head

nods, facial expression and creating multi-word responses. While he rarely protests,

Andrew does so with head shakes, facial expressions and multi-word responses. Most

of Andrew’s social interactions utilize proximity, head shakes, facial expressions and

creative multi-word expressions. When requesting permission and showing off, he will

add showing to his means of communication. Andrew does not use proximity to

comment or request information.

In the general education classroom, Andrew has been almost completely pre-

verbal in his means of communication. He is beginning to add created multi-word

responses to his repertoire. When requesting an object, Andrew will use facial

expressions. He also uses facial expressions to protest. There is more use of

communication means with Andrew’s social interactions. He will use gaze shift, head

shakes, facial expressions and now multi-word expressions when requesting social

routines and when he is greeting. He will use facial expressions to request comfort.

Performing as the dog in the reader’s theatre event was very hard for Andrew.

Because of his anxiety, signs were created so that the audience could “hear” his lines.

He did speak them aloud, but they were barely audible. He discomfort was evident, but

so was his courage. In this setting, his request for comfort and greeting were conveyed

by gaze shifts, proximity, head nods, and facial expressions. Andrew did use creative

multi-word expressions to greet, show off and provide information. This was an area


July 22, 2013

where Andrew’s selective mutism was apparent. He used it to not verbally respond to

my questions regarding the following: social routine, comfort, greeting, calling, showing

off, commenting, and providing information.

Determining Interventions

Andrew’s goals and objective should include the following:

1. Objective 1: The student will follow an individual daily schedule.2. Objective 2: By June, 2014, Andrew will maintain a topic across three turn

takings with visual and verbal prompts at 100% complience as evaluated through systematic observation.

To help facilitate the interventions across locations, people and time, Andrew

will have the following either with him or on his desk in each classroom. A set of Stop

and Go cards are available for him. These are laminated cards are similar to the

illustration below. These cards can be used as a visual reminder of turn taking in

conversations.


July 22, 2013

Another intervention is to use tally sheets as a reminder for Andrew to make

conversations throughout the day. One form reminds him to say good morning to a

friend as well as to say it to his teacher. The other form is a visual reminder to ask

either a friend or a teacher a question or to talk about himself. Both of these forms use

a combination of pictures and words. This combination is appropriate for Andrew given

his present reading level.


July 22, 2013

Planning Activities across the Day

Four different activities have been developed to facilitate and learn about

conversations during the course of Andrew’s day. The first activity for the day is during

EEKK time. EEKK stands for Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee. Generally, two students sit

elbow to elbow, knee to knee and read together. I have adapted this to work on

conversational skills with Andrew. His partner can be either another student or an

adult. This activity is schedule to run from 9:40 to 9:55 in the morning. The objective of

this activity is to give Andrew practice at making conversation using topics that are not

necessarily preferred. Conversations during this activity will start out with answering

and discussing teacher directed questions from the group reading time held just prior to

this activity. This activity works as a transition from group reading into practicing

conversations. It also helps Andrew with content and recounting narrative sequences

which are also problem areas for Andrew. Given Andrew’s present reading level,

pictures and words will be combined to help assist with his functional reading. Once the

questions for the group reading

are done, the partners may

choose one of the conversation

starters on Andrew’s

conversation ring. These again

include both words and pictures

and are similar to the examples above. These conversation strips are laminated and put


July 22, 2013

on a ring, so that Andrew can carry them with him during the course of the day for

conversational ideas.

The second activity takes place from 10:25 to 10:40 am during Reading with Mrs.

A. time. This is time for one-on-one reading

instruction. “Having Conversations” is a social story

using pictures and words to illustrate different

conversational topics. This social story will be read by

Andrew as part of his reading practice on a daily basis

for the course of at least a week. The objective of this

activity is to not only strengthen Andrew’s reading

skills but to help him recognize the wide range of topics available to him when initiating

a conversation with a person.

Smart Math time is a perfect time for

working on conversations with peers.

Generally, Andrew and Aydan, a fourth grade

classmate work together from 10:40 to 11

am using the smart board and math related

websites. They really enjoy different types of

bingo. While this version is not done on the

smart board, it will be a very familiar activity

for both of them. This activity’s objective is to use turn taking and requesting of


July 22, 2013

different items like the dice and bingo chips. This is also a perfect opportunity to work

on conversations around needing help. For this game, each player will need a board

with twenty -five numbers written on it, three dice, and tokens. The game starts by

having the students roll all three dice at once. Each player then uses any operation to hit

a target on his bingo board. Let’s say 2, 4, and 5 are rolled: player one wants to mark off

22 on her board so she uses (4x5)+2. Player two wants to mark 6 on his board. His

equation is (2x5)-4. Player three marks 10 with (4x5)/2. The round continues until

someone makes DINGO (five in a row). This game can be modified by changing the

number of dice and featuring a smaller variety of math operations so that the game is

educationally appropriate.

The fourth activity acts as both writing and drawing activity as well as an

informal assessment of Andrew’s conversational skills. “Let’s Have a Conversation” is a

six page activity that invites Andrew to write and illustrate his own social story about the

art of conversation. Each page has a conversational step:

1) Greet the other person

2) Make eye contact

3) Take turns talking and listening to the other

person

4) Ask questions when something isn’t

understood or to keep the conversation

going.


July 22, 2013

5) Say “good-bye”, “see you later”, or “have a nice day”.

While the other activities have focused on conversational topics, this social story works

on the more practical aspects of conversation. This is an opportunity for Andrew and an

adult to talk and converse about how to do each portion of conversation from greeting

to ending. The objective of this opportunity is to work on the nuts and bolts of

conversation. This project would be done over the course of the week with Andrew

working on a page a day. Writing is generally done from 11 to 11:20 am.

Family Input and Generalization of Skills

Because of Andrew’s comfort level, he appears to be much more verbal and

conversational at home than at school. To accommodate this difference, a set of Stop

and Go cards will be sent home with Andrew so that he can practice the reciprocal

nature of conversation. Using visual signals of when to stop and let the next person talk

and when to go and ask question or make a moment, Andrew is leaning the rhythm of

conversation.

The other area that will be practiced at home is staying on topic. The following

form will be sent home as home work. A communication partner records Andrew’s

responses during a conversation. If the response is on topic, the sentence is recorded in

the circle. If the response is off-topic, then it is recorded on the outside of the circle.


July 22, 2013


July 22, 2013

The goal of this activity is to practice staying on topic in an environment where Andrew

is more likely to have an extended conversation. As Andrew gets more comfortable in

school, this will be introduced in the ASD room and then finally in the general ed setting

to generalize the learning of staying on topic.

Outcomes

I have high hope for the interventions and activities. The most of the activities

dovetail into areas of strength for Andrew. He loves to draw so I can see the “Let’s Have

a Conversation” book as being a favorite of his. Andrew also likes to play Bingo and

enjoys working with Aydan so there will be more natural conversations during this

activity. Reading “Having Conversations” may be a challenge for Andrew given is

reading, but with the visual supports, I believe he can read and comprehend the

material. I imagine that EEKK may be the hardest activity for Andrew. So much of the

level of his conversation is dependent on Andrew’s level on anxiety. At least initially,

this conversational partner should be some one that Andrew is very comfortable around

and should be an adult that can draw him out of his shell. Each of the four activities also

target different areas of conversation.

I am concerned about the home component as it does not appear that Andrew

gets a lot of support at home. However, I think that using the Stop and Go cards, as

well as, the recording of on-topic and off-topic will be helpful and useful for generalizing

reciprocal speech from school to home and staying on topic from home to school.

Functional Communication Assessment and Intervention...

Documents

Transcript of Functional Communication Assessment and Intervention...